The Krina Unit
by Korean Boron-Paper Stars
Summary: A Clavat’s journey for myrrh becomes more than he bargained for as he is recruited into a unit set on eliminating miasma. His adventures with the Krina Unit will take him to new areas, new adventures, and a new hope for the future.
1. Chapter 1

The Krina Unit

A/N: This story was inspired by a Pokemon fic I read a long time ago. I can't find that story anywhere anymore, but I still have a lot of snippets of memory from it. It was about a group of Pokemon trainer revolutionists who were fighting against bandits and stuff like that. Well, I liked that story so much, this story is sort of inspired by it. The Pokemon story was called "Fire Strike" or something like that and I think the author's penname was Uriu.

A/N 2: Newly revised and re-updated. And here are some things you should know about the passing of time in the story. First of all, the overall passage of time in Joshua's first year is eight months. Going from Iytoin (Joshua's hometown and "Tipa" of the story) to River Belle Path took two weeks. Going from River Belle Path to the miasma stream took a month. Getting through one end of the miasma stream to the other took five minutes (:p). Going from the miasma stream to the Mushroom Forest took two weeks. Going from the Mushroom Forest to Marr's Pass took two weeks. Going from Marr's Pass to The Mine of Cathuriges took a month. Going from Cathuriges Mine back to Marr's Pass took a month and two weeks because the caravanners were so tired. And the trip from Marr's Pass to Iytoin took the rest of the time.

Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own anything related to FF:CC. "Fire Strike", the story this is inspired on, belongs to an author named Uriu. But I do own the members of the Krina Unit.

Summary: A Clavat's journey for myrrh becomes more than he bargained for as he is recruited into a unit set on eliminating miasma.

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ-

Prologue

The Clavat let out a deep sigh of relief as the giant crab collapsed in front of him. Sheathing his sword in its scabbard, he brushed his orange and black clothes off and hurriedly walked towards the myrrh tree. He set the chalice down gently on the stone pedestal and watched as the tree let out a drop of myrrh. He took the chalice back and set it down on the ground, admiring the chalice and the myrrh.

"Mailmoogle at your service, kupo!" He whirled around, his sword drawn again, and was relieved to find that it was just a friendly moogle. It had a letter in its mouth. It waddled up to him and said, "Here you go, kupo!"

"Thanks," the Clavat replied as he read his letter. It was from his town's elder, who was reminding him to be careful and to keep his spirits up. The Clavat scribbled down a reply quickly and handed it to the mailmoogle who waddled off.

"Kupo! Where do we go to now, kupo?" A tiny little moogle was flying around the Clavat's head. It kicked its little feet as it flew around.

"Hmm. . . I don't really know." He thought for a few seconds before saying, "Well, how about the Mushroom Forest? That's close to here, isn't it?"

"Kupo!" the moogle nodded happily.

"And we can also visit Brendan after we get the myrrh from there!" the Clavat added. "Wow, Brendan, that bum. I'm sure he's disappointed that he couldn't be on the caravan journey with me, don't you think, Moog?"

"He sure must be, kupo!" Moog the moogle agreed. "And there's also a moogle nest in Marr's Pass, kupo! We can go there too, kupo!"

"Then I guess it's decided," the Clavat said to his moogle companion. "First to the Mushroom Forest, then to Marr's Pass to visit Brendan!"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

"Hey you, punk!"

The Clavat turned around in shock as he heard a rough voice behind him. He was in slight worry that it was a Selkie. Members of that tribe, whether they be male or female, were known to be rough brigands who took mercy on nobody. He had nothing valuable with him at the moment, but many travelers claimed to have been attacked mercilessly by the Selkies for no apparent reason.

That was why he was relieved when he saw that the speaker was just a female Lilty. It wasn't the fact that he didn't take the Lilties seriously, but almost all Lilties were honorable. They weren't known for attacking random travelers, but rather for protecting roads and keeping them safe from monsters. This Lilty girl didn't look like one of those Lilties, though. She wore nothing on her head, showing her reddish blond strands of hair, and she wore a pink and white dress. This Lilty was obviously a caravanner.

"Hail, caravanner!" the Clavat said in a friendly manner. "How is your journey coming along?"

"Obviously a lot better than you!" The female Lilty motioned to her chalice, which was in the caravan. It held two drops of myrrh. "Don't tell me. You're new to this whole myrrh-collecting business, right?"

"Wow, is it obvious?" the Clavat asked sarcastically, experiencing an immediate change of personality. He could tell that this Lilty had a serious attitude problem and slightly regretted trying to be friendly.

The Lilty let out a snort of laughter as she said, "You look absolutely pathetic, that's what! A sorry excuse for a Selkie brigand could tell that you were new to this thing and jump you in two seconds! Where are your caravanners? Don't tell me that you're doing this alone! A big, important job like this! In the hands of a novice!"

"Oh, you think?" the Clavat retorted. "Well, blame it on the rest of the kids in my town for being too young."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the Lilty interrupted. "Whatever. Sucks, doesn't it, to have to tough out your first year alone? Name's Lorelei and I've been on this caravanning business for three years straight! So if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't wand to cross paths with you anyway," the Clavat muttered to himself. He said to the Lilty in slightly sardonic tone, "And while we're on the subject of names, I'm Joshua. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to be going." Joshua slapped the papaopamus on its rump to get it moving.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Lorelei asked, not sounding as though she honestly cared.

"Marr's Pass," Joshua answered. After short pause, he added mischievously, "I'd be surprised if you haven't heard if it. It's supposed to be important to the Lilties!"

Lorelei ignored that last remark and said instead, "Well, then, I'd hope you know about the miasma streams and their elements."

"Oh, do tell," Joshua said. His tone was sarcastic, but he was honestly interested. He hadn't paid much attention during his schooling and his elder had failed to mention the miasma stream elements.

"Ha, ha, sarcasm," Lorelei laughed mockingly. "Even you should know that you cannot pass the miasma streams unless your crystal's element matches that of the stream." She then turned away from Joshua and sat down in the front of the caravan. "Now, I must be going. Don't get killed, your town can't afford it," she said arrogantly as her caravan trudged down the road.

Joshua glared at her caravan as it disappeared down the path. "Just what is with that girl?"

Moog, who had hidden inside the caravan once Lorelei had called to them, flew out and said, "That Lilty has a bad temper, kupo! She is so mean, kupo!"

"Well, I think all Lilties have personality problems, to tell you the truth," Joshua said to Moog, laughing. "Well, I have to admit, if we didn't run into her, then I wouldn't have learned about the miasma streams."

"You mean you didn't know about them, kupo?" Moog stared at Joshua incredulously.

Joshua chuckled and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Well, uh, what can I say? I was a bad student. Now let's just get to the stupid miasma stream, all right?"

"Kupo!"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

"Whoa . . . We-eird," Joshua commented, looking up in awe at the slight before him. "So this is the miasma stream."

Indeed, Joshua and his caravan were standing outside the miasma stream. It was an impressive and horrifying monument beyond words. A straight, rocky, narrow path was the only path in sight, but surrounding the path was a bottomless pit. Strange, think clouds of bluish miasma swirled around in the sky and in the void.

"Hey, Moog, that Lilty girl said that we needed the proper element to cross the stream, right?" Joshua questioned.

"Right, kupo!"

"Can you tell what element the stream is now?"

"Water, kupo!"

"What luck! Good thing I changed the chalice's element back in River Belle Path!" Joshua muttered to himself arrogantly. He slapped the papaopamus to get it moving. "Let's go!"

The papaopamus reared back and refused to go inside the place. Joshua quickly grabbed the reins on the papaopamus, trying to calm the animal down.

Moog flew in circles over Joshua's head, saying, "Kupo! This place gives me the creeps, kupo!"

"Yeah, well, I only need one thing freaking out!" Joshua retorted. "So make yourself useful and get away from my head!"

That statement was all that was needed to make Moog fly into the caravan for shelter.

"Easy, easy already! We have to get through!" Joshua yelled, grabbing the papaopamus' rains and yanking on them. It threw its head back and let out a growl, causing Joshua to let go of the reins, step backwards, and topple over the edge of the cliff. "Whoa!"

"Kupo! Hang in there, kupo!" Moog cried, biting onto Joshua's sleeve.

Joshua had managed to grab onto a rock edge protruding from the cliff, but it was starting to crumble, fast. Joshua, thinking fast, took off his headband with his free hand and scanned the side and the edge of the cliff for any rough or protruding edges that he could grab onto. He found one that looked pretty sturdy and looped his headband around it. Then he let go of the crumbling piece of rock just before it crumbled in his hand and held onto the new ledge with both hands.

"Moog, get that papaopamus over here, will you?" Joshua shouted over the howl of the swirling miasma winds.

"Kupo!" Moog went over to the papaopamus and tried to push it towards the cliff. The papaopamus vehemently refused and Moog grunted, "Kupo! We need to get over there, kupo!"

The Clavat hanging onto a rock ledge for his life also called Joshua sighed and this pathetic display. "Moog . . . Never mind. Just get the papaopamus' reins over here!"

Moog agreed and carried the reins over to Joshua with its mouth. Joshua used the reins to pull himself up from the ledge.

"Kupo! That was close one, kupo!" Moog said.

"Yeah, I'd say," Joshua said. He glared at his papaopamus. "No thanks to you!"

Once again, the Clavat tried to coax the papaopamus into crossing the miasma stream. He pulled on the reins as hard as he could until the animal started to move. Joshua figured that as long as he kept pulling as hard as he could and as long as he stayed away from any ledges, they'd be fine.

About five minutes later, Joshua, Moog, and the caravan were safely on the other side.

"We could've lost our lives in there, kupo!" Moog cried.

"We could've lost our lives in there!" Joshua shouted at the exact same time. "I _really_ need some more help with this! Now, which way to the Mushroom Forest?"

"If we keep going, kupo, we should see it soon, kupo!" Moog answered.

"Then, let's get going!" Joshua announced. "I wanna reach Marr's Pass by nightfall today!"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

"Whoa . . . So _this_ is the Mushroom Forest, huh?" Joshua said, smiling and glancing around. "Creepy."

"Let's go, kupo!" Moog the moogle said. "We better get that drop, kupo!"

Joshua drew his sword and shield and stepped cautiously into the Mushroom Forest. He hadn't taken more than two steps when he encountered a tiny worm.

"Well, duty calls," Joshua said, smirking. "You're going down!" He slashed at the worm twice and it curled up and died. "Hah! That was nothing!"

"Don't get too cocky, kupo," Moog warned.

"Come on, that was just a tiny worm," Joshua said. "You could defeat it, if you wanted too." He laughed at his own joke, then said, "Now come on! We better go!"

The Clavat and the moogle trekked a short path and encountered a gremlin and a fighting plant. Joshua killed them easily. But once he defeated them, he found that he was at a dead end.

"Oh, this is great," he muttered, wanting to throw his sword on the ground. "What am I supposed to do now?" He paced around for a short bit. He stepped on the tops of one of the giant mushrooms growing in the forest. It sank a bit under his weight. Then it sprung up, surprising Joshua and Moog. "What the . . ." Joshua landed on his rump. He groaned. "That really hurt!" Just then, he noticed the shadow on the ground. He looked up and saw a giant flying monster with one eye and wings. "Whoa! What is that?"

"That's an Ahriman, kupo!" Moog announced.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard about them," Joshua muttered to himself. "Well, your mine! Hyah!" He slashed at the monster once, but it had no effect. "Hey! What gives?"

"Look out, kupo!"

Joshua looked up just in time to get his cheek cut by the Ahriman's wing. He wiped his cheek and shouted, "You wanna play dirty? Well, then let's go!" Joshua stood still in concentration. When he felt a purple orb light up in his hands, he shouted, "Gravity!"

The orb exploded and sent out a small shockwave. When the shockwave disappeared, the Ahriman was glued to the ground, unable to move.

"And this is the part that I like best." Joshua lifted his sword and defeated the Ahriman with a few quick strikes. When he was finished, the noticed something shiny near the defeated monster. "Hello? What's this?" He picked it up and examined it. "Iron. Maybe I can use it for something later!"

Joshua pocketed the iron and continued to follow the straightforward path, hacking away at any enemies in his path. He soon encountered another Ahriman, but defeated it easily. He dispatched a few more fighting plants and gremlins in his way. But what caught his eye was something underneath the gremlin.

"Kupo! It looks like a design for a weapon, kupo!" Moog announced.

"Yeah, it does!" Joshua yanked the item out and examined it. On the paper were four weapon designs: a sword, a lance, a hammer, and a racket. "That's what I need," Joshua said, pointing to the picture of the sword. I'll need this later." He rolled up the scroll and pocketed it in his pack.

"Let's go, kupo!" Moog said.

The Clavat had defeated a few more enemies and had gotten a piece of silver and a chunk of bronze. The path continued to be as straightforward as ever. At least . . . it was until Joshua reached a part of the forest with a mushroom off to the side.

"Kupo, which way do we go, kupo?" Moog asked.

Joshua thought hard. "Well . . . Let's go on that mushroom, first. It wouldn't hurt to look."

But once they did a little exploring, they realized that it was just a dead end. Joshua scoffed angrily and was ready to leave. But Moog cried, "Kupo! I found a moogle house, kupo!"

"A moogle house?" Joshua was intrigued. "Here? Of all places?"

"Let's stay for the night, kupo!" Moog suggested.

Joshua wanted to protest, but looked up at the sky. It was turning pitch black. "Well, I guess it'll be safer to trek in daylight . . ."

Moog and Joshua made their way into the house. A cheerful moogle waddled up to them. "Kupo! Welcome to my house, kupo!"

"Nice place you've got here," Joshua commented. He turned to Moog and said with a hint of suspicion, "It looks exactly like yours."

"All moogle houses look the same, kupo!" Moog informed the Clavat.

"Come stay for the night, kupo" the moogle said. "You should rest a bit before leaving, kupo!"

"Yeah, we'll stay for the night," Joshua said, sitting in front of the fireplace. "So, enlighten me. Why are you living here, of all places to be?"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

"Come visit soon, kupo!" the moogle called out as Joshua and Moog left the house.

"Goodbye, kupo!" Moog called back.

Joshua shook his head with slight embarrassment and exasperation. "Come on . . . Let's just go."

The two of them got onto the springy mushroom and were back on the trail once again. Joshua collected a piece of bronze and a crystal ball before entering the boss' lair.

"Now . . . Where is that boss?" Joshua asked, glancing around. His eyes finally fell on a tiny, writhing, withering plant monster with many tentacles and many eyes. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." He was going to walk around the creature and to the myrrh tree when he felt a sudden earthquake. "Hey, what's . . ."

"Look, kupo!" Moog cried.

The tiny plant monster was no longer a tiny plant monster . . . it was a huge plant monster! It had all the features that it had when it was tiny, but just bigger. Joshua was feeling a bit nervous.

"That's the Malboro, kupo!" Moog said.

"Well . . . I guess I better fight!" Joshua retorted, drawing his sword.

He ran towards the Malboro, only to get hit in the back with something. He turned to see that two fighting plants had generated. He quickly dispatched of them and turned his attention to the Malboro. He chopped off a tentacle from the monster. It writhed in pain and raised its other tentacles to slam them down on Joshua.

"Ow!" Joshua shouted when one of them hit him on his back. "That really hurt!" He thought for a short while. If this thing is a plant, I suppose it won't like fire!" Joshua quickly cast a fire spell to fuse it with his sword and ran towards the Malboro. He slashed the plant and it lit on fire. "Take that!"

The Malboro, obviously angered by Joshua's actions, quickly breathed out poison gas at Joshua. The Clavat quickly cast Clear to rid himself of the poison and slashed at the Malboro once again. The Malboro, getting annoyed with Joshua, decided to cast Slowga to slow him down.

"Ha, that spell doesn't even affect me!" Joshua, who had not yet been enlightened in the spells affecting time, boasted. He ran towards the Malboro to strike, but find his movements sluggish. "What? What did that spell do to me?"

"Kupo!" Moog shouted. "Slowga makes you slow, kupo!"

"Wow . . . That sucks," Joshua muttered to himself. He tried to cast Clear once again, but his spell-casting time had been lengthened, too. The Malboro smacked the Clavat around like a fish.

"Hang in there, kupo!" Moog shouted as he dropped the chalice to cast a fire spell at the Malboro. It annoyed the plant monster and made it swat its tentacles at the moogle. Moog darted out of the way, and Joshua, who had now recovered from the Slowga spell, picked up his sword and slashed off all the Malboro's tentacles. The Malboro roared and once again spit out poisonous gas.

"Get some new tricks!" Joshua crowed, covering his mouth with his sleeve and darting out of range. Once the Malboro finished breathing its poisonous breath, Joshua jumped up and slashed the Malboro vertically, then horizontally. It howled out a dying scream, then melted into a green goo that covered the Mushroom Forest floor.

"Eww . . ." Joshua looked sickened and his face twisted into a grimace. "That. Is. Gross." He looked up. "The myrrh tree!" He took the chalice from Moog and set it on the pedestal to collect the myrrh. After the drop filled more of the chalice, Joshua said, "Now we only have one more place to go!"

"Mailmoogle at your service, kupo!"

Joshua accepted the letter from the moogle and read through it quickly. It was from his mother, telling him to be careful. Joshua replied that he was fine and was about to reach Marr's Pass. He also asked her if she could send him a list of facts of everything she knew about the miasma streams and elements.

"So long, kupo!" the mailmoogle called as it waddled away.

Joshua sighed and lay down on the ground. "Wow, we're almost done. Well, we better get to Marr's Pass, shouldn't we, Moog?"

"Kupo!"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

A/N: Yep! I revised this story! I couldn't really work with Joshua's personality when he's being so nervous around Lorelei. And I really don't think anyone would let someone with Lorelei's personality walk all over them like that anyway.

A/N 2: Oh, yeah, no magicite in this story. Sorry, but I just don't think it'll work too well. It'll take a while for them to go searching for the magicite to learn the right spells. Also, no items randomly popping up and enemies disappearing. Sorry, it'd be too weird to write that in a story. No magicite (all spells are learned) and caravanners have to search through a monster for items. Sorry.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Read chapter 1! It's newly updated! If you don't read it first, this might not make too much sense.

A/N 2: I found a link to the first part of "Fire Strike!" That story is actually a trilogy and I only found part 1, but who cares? It's "Fire Strike!"

A/N 3: Another message to the origin of this fic. When I first read "Fire Strike", I really liked it and I FIRST wrote a Pokemon story based on it called "Elemental Power". I named a few characters in there after actual characters in Pokemon, but the main character's best friend was named Brandon in "Elemental Power". It was just pure and complete coincidence that one of the playable characters in the new Pokemon game (forgot the title, gotta ask my friend) was named Brendan. So, without further adew. . .

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

Chapter 2

"Well . . . We've finally made it," Joshua announced, huffing and puffing wearily. "Man! I'm tired! I need sleep . . ."

"Come on, kupo! You can't be that tired, kupo!" Moog announced cheerfully.

Joshua glared at the cheery ball of puff with his tired, bloodshot eyes. "Try me."

Moog laughed nervously. "I'll be at the moogle house if you need me, kupo. See you later, kupo!" The nervous moogle zipped off before Joshua could get a proper response in his mind.

"Darn that thing!" Joshua growled to himself. "Well, now I have to find Brenden's house." He dragged himself over to a young Clavat woman who was tending to some flowers and tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, do you know where Brenden lives?"

The Clavat woman whirled around and gasped. "Joshua! What are you doing here?"

Joshua was surprised. "Eva?" he asked in shock. Eva was Brenden's older sister. "I didn't recognize you!"

"Well, it has been three years," Eva said. _"You_ haven't changed at all, though." She paused, then said, "You looking for Brenden? He's in the house."

"Thanks." Joshua was about to leave, but he remembered something and hesitated to leave. "Um . . . where _is_ your house?"

"Over there," Eva said, pointing to a house with a blacksmith's forge in the front yard. "I hope you know it's the one with the forge."

"Duh," Joshua said, rolling his eyes. "So . . . How's life here?"

"Okay, I guess." Eva shrugged. "Daddy's business is better here, because Marr's Pass has a reputation for blacksmithing, as you may know. But it's boring around here. There're no other Clavat families except for one other. The girl is my age, but she's eccentric. And there are no other girls close to my age."

"Then I guess there's nothing for Brenden to do?" Joshua asked.

Eva grinned. "You bet! He's always pacing around the town, whining about how boring it is here!"

"Well, I better see how he's doing!" Joshua said, waving goodbye to Eva and making his way to the house.

When he reached Brenden's house, he said a quick hello to Brenden's parents and younger sister, then went into Brenden's room. It was empty, but the sounds of soft snoring was not ignorable. Joshua looked in the direction of the bed and saw a small tuft of light brown hair sticking out of the blankets. Brenden was asleep.

Joshua walked over to the bed and pulled the covers down to reveal Brenden's face. He was drooling. Ew. Joshua grinned cheerily and took a deep breath before shouting, "The crystal's losing its glow! The miasma is closing in on the town! We're all gonna die!"

Brenden tumbled out of bed, shouting, "Run for the Jegon River!" He fell on the floor, hard. He muttered, "Ow," and stood up irritably. "What was _that_ for, Joshua?" Three seconds passed before he realized who he had just spoken to. "Hey, wait, what? Joshua? What are _you_ doing here?"

"Guess!" Joshua responded, not giving Brenden any time to guess. "I'm here because I'm a caravanner!"

"Whoop-de-do for you," Brenden said, rolling his eyes. "So who's on the caravan? Who made the cut to match up to your skills? Marigold? Kevin? Derek? Marissa? Nate?"

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Um . . . None. I'm on my own, bro."

"_What?"_ Brenden exploded. "But that's . . . that's . . . no way! The elder must be really out of his mind if he'd send you out on your first year _by yourself!"_ He glared at Joshua suspiciously. "What happened to everyone?"

"Well, Marigold and Kevin moved to Fum," Joshua said. He paused to remember the others. "Nate's father decided to become a knight for Alfitaria again, so Nate's family moved there. Marissa and Derek got married. To each other!" Joshua laughed.

Brenden looked sickened. "Ew. I didn't expect that. What about the others?"

"Lei and Gary were in the caravan last year. Lei just disappeared during the middle of the journey and Gary abandoned the caravan. And Rory ran away to Leuda . . . I think," Joshua said.

Brenden didn't seem to be interested in Rory's actions. "Lei and Gary left the caravan? Why?"

Joshua shrugged. "Beats me. Tory told me that they had gone to some place called Rebena Te Ra. Lei just disappeared there, from what I was told! And Gary left because the others blamed him for causing Lei's disappearance."

Brendan was puzzled. "Why?" His expression suddenly got dark as he said, "Has so much changed over the years? Weren't Gary and Lei best friends?"

"Well . . . They were," Joshua answered. "But, um, from what I heard, the two of them had gotten into a big argument on the road. I don't know why. But the other members of the caravan were so upset about Lei's disappearance that they blamed Gary."

Brenden said, "Well, I wonder how they're doing." He sighed and added, "Too bad Lei disappeared. He was a cool Selkie. One of a kind. Probably the only Selkie who wasn't such a hooligan. And Gary was nice too. But tell me." He got a sickened expression on his face. "Did you say that Marissa and Derek got _married?_ But he's a Clavat! She's a Lilty!"

Joshua laughed. "Derek got down on his knees and proposed to Marissa one day. The next thing I knew, they're starting one happy family together!"

"That. Is. Sick." Brendan grimaced. "Anyway, what happened to Tory? And the rest of the caravan?"

"They retired, that's what," Joshua answered. "And that left just me."

"Poor you." Brenden laughed. "How've _you_ been doing?"

"Just fine, to tell you the truth." Joshua bragged, "I beat the giant crab at River Belle Path. And I beat the Malboro recently in the Mushroom Forest on my way here."

"Wow, you've gotten _so_ much stronger!" Brenden said sarcastically. "But let me tell you, the Mine of Cathuriges is no walk in the park!"

"Just leave it to the Josh-man!" Joshua bragged, flexing his arms. "I can handle anything!"

"Oh, no, you can't!' Brenden jumped up, his eyes flaring angrily. "Don't be a fool! Don't you know that the Lilties of long ago had to abandon that mine?"

"They abandoned it because the iron in the mine ran out," Joshua scoffed. "They never left because of the monsters!"

"You actually believe that old story?" Brenden asked, rolling his eyes. "Now who in their right mind would believe that? That story makes it sound as if _iron_ was the whole key to the Lilties' victory, which it most certainly was _not!"_

Joshua shrugged.

Brenden sighed. "When are you setting out again?"

"Tomorrow. The day after that, maybe," Joshua answered. "I want to get back home as soon as I can!"

"Oh, okay." Brenden was silent for a few seconds, and then he said slowly, "Say . . . Is it okay if I accompany you to Cathuriges Mine?"

"What? Why?" Joshua was surprised.

"Um . . . Well . . . For one thing, it's boring here," Brenden said quickly. "There's no one around my age to play with. And . . . uh . . . you don't sound as if you know what you're getting yourself into, by getting a big head about Cathuriges Mine. You're going to need me around for reality checks!"

"Right." Joshua laughed. "And I'm not supposed to believe that you just want to come with me to show me up?"

"Joshua, Joshua, Joshua . . ." Brenden shook his head and spoke in a tone not unlike one a parent would use to reprimand a naughty child, "Aren't we all a little too old for those games?"

The other Clavat boy laughed.

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΑΒΓΔΕ

A/N: Sorry that this chapter was so short, but I don't think it went exactly how I wanted it to. I didn't want to make it longer because I couldn't find a way to continue and I didn't want to risk a chance of making it go bad.

A/N 2: Yeah, Brenden is now going to stick around with Joshua, but he's not going back to Iytoin. He's just going to go to Cathuriges Mine with Joshua and come back to Marr's Pass. Also, Joshua's first year of myrrh collecting is normal, so don't expect any abnormalities now, okay?


End file.
